Selasa, 31 Mei 2011

Power-station coal prices at China’s Qinhuangdao port rose for a seventh week to the highest in more than two years as the country battled with an electricity shortage.

Coal with an energy value of 5,500 kilocalories per kilogram gained 0.6 percent to between 830 and 845 yuan a metric ton as of today compared with a week earlier, according to the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association. That’s the highest since October 2008.

The world’s largest energy user may face an electricity supply shortfall of as much as 40 gigawatts in summer, surpassing the shortage in 2004, China’s worst, according to State Grid Corp. of China, the nation’s dominant power supplier. Coal is used as fuel at more than 70 percent of the country’s power plants.

Stockpiles at Qinhuangdao port, which ships half of the nation’s seaborne coal, fell 1 percent from a week earlier to 5.77 million tons, according to the association.